How To: Creating an Exhibit at home

Article written by Cokato Museum staff

Missing museums? Bored? Ever think about making your own exhibit, but aren't sure how museums design theirs?

In this blog we will share some of our museum tips and secrets to help you create your own home exhibit! 

​Step One: Brainstorm

In this first step you will want to figure out what your theme will be. Start by looking around your house to see what types of items you have that work together.  Do you have a lot of items from a particular era?  Is there a movie series that you have a lot of merchandise from? Or do you have a collection of buttons, trains, toy cars, etc.?  You do not need to know everything that will go into the exhibit, just know what theme you want to focus on.

For example, take our home Star Wars Exhibit. We chose this topic because one of our members has some Star Wars merchandise that they have collected over the years. Also, we were posting on Monday May 4, which is Star Wars day for those of you who are not Star Wars fans.  

Before deciding on Star Wars, we also considered ideas such as, choosing a specific decade, sports, children's toys, or popular books.

Step Two: Find Materials & Objects
 
Items needed:

• Sturdy table for displaying (At home ideas: Desk, dresser, or dining room table.)
• Fabric (choice of fabric is up to you, some at home ideas, Sheets or tablecloth)
  • Make sure that the cloth that you pick enhances the items.

Example: if you have mainly dark objects, chose a lighter fabric, like white or beige. Whereas, if you have lighter objects, chose a darker fabric. (You can have more than one color to help bring out all of the objects, just make sure that all of the colors compliment each other.)
 
After finding all the objects that match the theme you are planning, you can now start putting it together.  Note: not everything that you grabbed needs to be used.  It may go with the theme but once you start putting it together things will start to fall into place.

Step Three: Assembling the exhibit
Now that you have your materials and objects, the next step is to start setting up.

• Start by laying down your fabric.
• Then you can start placing objects where you would like.
  • ​There may be a particular piece that you want to make sure makes it in the display.  Start with that piece and work around it. (Ex. In the Star Wars Exhibit, the Album(Top left) was the item that we worked around.)
• ​​Note: Pay attention to height. You may need to add some height to certain objects, so that they are visible. (Ex. The back three objects were raised up so that you could visually see them better.) (At home fix for height: Books or scrap pieces of 2x4)​

​Step Four: Finishing touches

• Once you have most of the items in their places, check to make sure that it flows visually.

Step Five: Finished
Now it is time to show your display to your family and Friends!
​When you are finished, if you are interested share with us in the comments below your own at home exhibit.